artnouveau

postwar

SILVER

The naturally occuring ratio of silver to gold is about 17:1, which over most of recorded history is about the average monetary ratio. Over the last 200 years the ratio has diverged from about 10:1 to about 100:1, which is the same divergence that occured between the denarius and the aureus from the early Roman Republic to the late Roman Empire. The Lydians, who first used gold and silver coinage used a ratio of about 14:1.

Silver has always been used been used for day to day transactions, as even fractional gold is too valuable to purchase a loaf of bread or a pair of sandals, or to pay off a day laborer or a wager.

In our present economy, while gold behaves both as a decorative commodity and a currency; silver has many industrial uses beyond jewellery, and thus even when gold becomes a currency of last resort, silver retains a large degree of commodity value. Thus silver is less likely to rise in times of deflation.

On the other hand, if financial dislocations beome very serious, deflation can morph into hyperinflation without warning - in which case it is possible that silver will be once again used for small scale economic transactions.

While this site is devoted to gold, if you love coins and medals it's inevitable you'll pick up some beautiful silver pieces from time to time. I particularly like French Art Nouveau silver. So here they are:

FRANCE Troisième république 1894

Gilded Silver Merit Award for the Minister of Commerce and Industry: M. Lourties, Senateur.

Signed by JC Chaplain.

68 mm. (118 gm) Edge marked: argent

EF................................$450

FRANCE: Troisième république N.D.

Silver Award from the Society for the Encouragement of Art and Industry to Victor Champier.

Signed by Oscar Roty.

60mm x 40 mm (77.3gm) edge marked: argent

UNC......................................$475

FRANCE Troisième république June 1936

Silver Merit Award from the Association of stenographers to Mme Branellec, Marcelle.

Signed by Oscar Roty,

50mm x 36mm (44.98gm) edge marked: argent

EF............................................$175

France Troisième république

Merit Award, Patriotic Society of Indre-et-Loire, signed by Roty and Desaide.

46mm, (46 gm), edgemarked argent

EF, lightly cleaned at one time.................$175

FRANCE Troisième république 1927

Gilded Silver Agricultural Award signed by Louis Bottee

40mm (28.24gm)

UNC......................................$325

FRANCE Troisième république1914-1925

Merit Award from Association Philiotechnique to Mme Branellec, professeur.

Signed by L. Bottee

48mm (59.42gm)

EF (a few edge bumps).....................$175

FRANCE Troisième république

SILVER Art nouveau Marianne equestrian medal L'EPERON (spur) 1911 Signed by the artist Alexandre Morlon (born in Macon/France, 1878-1951) 64mm (118gm) Obv: Gallia in a Gaulish helmet advances with drawn sword and shield. Rev: an oak tree and a tablet engraved, Edge: state minted silver 1 cornucopia, in its original box.

Extremely Fine.......................................$475

FRANCE Troisième république
Silver Medal signed by Oscar Roty, 1888, A Country Lady: perhaps the precursor to the famous Sower Lady "La Semeuse" image. (36mm) Obv/ A Country Lady, standing to the left is feeding animals in her Poultry-Yard
Rev/ Around a Country Crown, there's a legend: Comice Agricole de l'Entre Deux Mers.Cantons de Creon et du Crabon Blanc" On the edge : " Argent " (Silver) and an edge mark: a cornucopia- in original circular box
Extremely Fine....................................$375

FRANCE Troisième république (1905)

Silver Medal signed by Louis Bottee, awarded to the Minister and Senator MM Bernard, of the Comite Francais des expositions a L'etranger. Minted for the expostion in Lieges Belgium. MM Bernard gained international fame for his Malthusian campaign to rectify the dwindling French birth rate.

64x40mm (61.37gm)

AU..............................................$450

FRANCE Troisième république

Railway Medal signed by Oscar Roty

60x40mm (59.gm)

UNC...............................................$450

FRANCE Troisième république

Art Medal signed by George Dupre, son of Augustin Dupre (of libertas Americana fame).
"When everything changes for you, nature remains the same. It's the same sun that rises on all your days."

65x45mm (69.7gm)

EF toned.........................................$450